Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

THE PEACH VIBE helps to create an environment in your workplace that leads to an increase in productivity and efficiency. We have designed our workplace rejuvenating programs exclusively for the corporate world. We offer 15-minute massage increments to ensure employee's mental & physical well being.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

WHAT IF employees opting for massage services would not only result in alleviating stress, but also, help the therapists to gain substantial rise in income & livelihood.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

87% of workers worldwide are emotionally disconnected from their workplace and hence are less productive (Gallup's, 2013) Our project follows a dual impact model by not just increasing the efficiency of workers and reducing their work related stress, but also empowering women from the lower strata of the community by providing employment opportunities for them in the form massage therapists.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

In order to tackle the problem of reducing work related stress to increase productivity, we designed customized workplace rejuvenating programs exclusively for the corporate world. We offer 15-minute massage increments, which fit within standard break and lunch times. It is to be implemented monthly on a mutually accepted schedule. We offer packages ranging from Rs. 9,000 to Rs.40,000 depending on the number of employees and engagement. The packages are tweaked to suit the corporates' requirements. Eg. A package of Rs.17,000 offers 75 massages over a course of 6 months to 1 year. Our beneficiaries are paid (on a daily basis) an amount of Rs. 800 for a 3-hour massage session. We hope to increase this amount as we progress in the future.

Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

Usually when we think of solving social problems through entrepreneurial projects, its always about helping the underprivileged and improving the livelihood of the lower strata of the society, but through Peach Vibe, instead of seeing this community as the ones with the problem, we tried to make them the solution.
Hence, The Peach Vibe aims to bring a change in a community. Our first beneficiary, Rekha ji, a housewife, after being trained under us has now transformed into a successful massage therapist. This has motivated her to have big dreams.
It's not just our employees but also our client's; recently one of our client decided to hand over a monthly package contract for a year after seeing a positive improvement in their employees.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

Quantitative-The Peach Vibe has successfully serviced approximately 100 employees across 3 companies. We currently employ 3 masseuses. We are also considering employing visually challenged massage therapists for our venture to expand our social reach, thereby providing them with a stable income.
Qualitative- By employing 3 masseuses from the lower strata of the community boosted their belief that they could manage dual aspects of their lives- that of a homemaker as well as breadearner- for their family, without any difficulty. We realised this impact we created in their lives by giving them a substantial rise in income and also holistically developing them.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

Presently we are catering solely to corporate organisations. Moving forward, we are looking at expanding our target audience and collaborating with event management companies to set up The Peach Vibe at various events like exhibitions, gala nights, marathons etc. We are also considering linkups with online websites like UrbanClap, TaskBob etc. Our vision is to scale the Peach Vibe to a national level and alleviate, to the best possible extent, work pressure and stress levels while simultaneously providing employment and enriching lives of the underprivileged.

Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

The biggest advantage of our plan is that, our initial investment is very low. Our major expenditure is on wages and salaries of our beneficiaries which is on package basis. After using the cost -plus pricing strategy which has a profit margin of approximately 15%, we can reach our breakeven point after sale of just 3 or 4 base packages thus ensuring financial stability for our project.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

In India providing Corporate Rejuvenation Services is an untapped market and is still considered an innovative service/concept, hence our competitors are very limited as they differ with the selling preposition's. The Power Spa is one of our major competitior. In addition, Mettaa Foot Spa in this field, specialise in foot reflexology and employ only blind personnel's. Looking at them as our inspiration, we decided to get blind candidate's on board as well and employ more and more of them to bring up this community as well respected and independent indivdual's in the society.

Team

Founding Story

The Peach Vibe started as a rough idea to do something innovative and explore more avenues for the trained masseuse professionals. We first thought about setting up a regular spa service just like others in the market. After extensive research work we discovered that most of the people who avail these services are working professionals especially in the corporate world, as long hours at the desk leave their body with various health problems. So we decided why not cater specifically to these corporates (for now) at their very own workplace and employ our trained masseuse professionals who come from the lower strata of the society to earn a substantial income.

Team

Our team consists of 15 core members (full time members) within various departments like Operations, Marketing, Finance, Research & Development and Corporate Social Alliance. We also have 3 employees (beneficiaries) currently. In the future, we will definitely look to bring more employees on board with us and as the company starts growing we'll look to add more members to the Marketing & Operations department.

Background

Please confirm how you heard about the Unilever Awards:

Network (Mail from Ashoka changemakers)

Please confirm your role in the initiative (eg Founder/co-Founder) and your organisational title:

Co-Founder

Which of the 8 UN Global Goals (Sustainable Development Goals) pre-selected for this competition does your solution relate most closely to? [select all that apply]

Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Leadership and the Unilever Awards

Please provide examples of any previous entrepreneurial initiatives you have pioneered.

We have 2 other projects running simultaneously, which are:

Project Saarthi - Project Saarthi aims to train underprivileged women with English skills using the technique of phonetics. These women in turn teach the children of their community, and so the impact multiplies. These women have either been employed in schools or have started their own tuition and thus are self sufficient. Our partner for the project is LeapForWord who help us with English content which lays specific importance on phonetics.

Project Aasha- Project Aasha is a women empowerment project that aims to uplift underprivileged and unemployed women into self sufficient individuals by holistically transforming them into beauty professionals. Project Aasha allows families that are considered below the poverty line, to be transformed into dual income households. Sustainability within the project is maintained by providing women with any skill set they may require for conducting their jobs within the beauty industry, so as to ensure independence. This year, we have introduced THE PEACH VIBE under the umbrella of Project Aasha, exploring another avenue of employment for our beneficiaries.

Beyond your existing team, who else are you working with to achieve your objectives, eg partners, advisors, mentors?

We have a Business Advisory Board, which consists of 10 highly skilled and experienced professionals who guide us about our decisions. We are in constant touch with them as we have a BAB meeting every 1-2 months. We also see to it that we keep them in the loop about our activities and progress by releasing a newsletter fortnightly.